TOLEDO, Ohio — More than $65 million is coming to the Toledo area to boost the automotive industry and help push it into the future.
U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, made the announcement Friday at the Mobis North America Facility in north Toledo.
It's called the Domestic Auto Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program. The grant provides nearly $33 million from the federal government, and American Autoparts and Mobis North America will match those funds.
As there has been concern from local autoworkers in recent years about the advent of electric vehicles and what it will mean for jobs, Granholm said this grant will create new opportunities for the auto industry including more jobs.
"Your jobs are not going anywhere and the future of the auto industry is right here in Toledo, Ohio, and that is great news," Granholm said at the podium.
She also said the money will support the manufacturing of a hybrid truck and eventually fully electric vehicles in Toledo.
Mobis is one of the nine auto companies in the nation receiving these investments.
"Companies now have a reason to stay in the same communities where they've been for years and help workers transition to build the cars of the future," Granholm said.
U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said here in northwest Ohio, the goal of this project is to create hundreds of good-paying jobs while retaining hundreds more, including the 354 members of the United Auto Workers.
"This fight that will help to preserve hundreds and hundreds of jobs here and our job creation will depend on how competitive we really are and how fair we can make the international trade markets for us to succeed here at Mobis," Kaptur said.
The money is also going toward building a new battery system assembly plant that will manufacture batteries for these hybrid vehicles.
"The technology associated with that, the batteries are also making the vehicle cheaper," Granholm said. "So on all of those fronts, they are becoming much more accessible."